Museum of Communication

About

The Museum of Communication is an interactive museum dedicated to the subject of communication in Bern, Switzerland. In 2019 it was awarded the Council of Europe Museum Prize. It was founded in 1907 as the corporate museum of Swiss Post (later called PTT), the national postal service of Switzerland. The restructuring of the museum into a foundation of Swiss Post and Swisscom led to a broadening of the overall theme and a new name, the Museum of Communication. The latest incarnation of the museum, which opened its doors with a redesigned permanent exhibition in 2017, is focused completely on its visitors.

Ever since it moved to its first purpose-built location in 1990, the Museum of Communication has regularly staged temporary exhibitions. The exhibitions address the social and cultural impact of communication and communication technology and also delve a little deeper into certain rather surprising aspects of communication. In recent years they have included the role of inhibitions, the art of growing old or the challenges and potential capacities of silence. Entitled "Sounds of Silence", this particular exhibition won several international awards, including the iF Design Award by the iF Industrie Forum Design. The initial output of three to four temporary exhibitions every year was later reduced to one or two.

Following a period of renovation which lasted a year, the Museum of Communication Bern celebrated the reopening of its permanent exhibition on 17 August 2017. The new core exhibition allows visitors to experience the omnipresence of communication, both in analogue and in digital form, in an entertaining way. Face-to-face encounters, experiments and an easy-to-understand design take centre stage. Additional information on the themes addressed in the exhibition is also conveyed by communicators who are present at all times, and by encouraging the visitors to interact with each other. The communicators are not like ordinary museum assistants, but rather engage in direct dialogue with visitors. In 2019, the Museum of Communication was awarded the Council of Europe Museum Prize for its overall interactive concept and staff-centred communication.

Post Museum and PTT Museum as corporate museums

Ever since the first museum was established in 1907, it has staged its own permanent exhibitions. After a phase of adding to the collection in the main post office building in Bern and then a period of closure due to the mobilisation during the First World War, the collection of stamps on display were mainly of interest to philatelists.

After moving to the new building of the Swiss Alpine Museum, the management decided to add more "current relevance and practical value to the Post Museum" and to design a more modern exhibition which, until the Second World War broke out, attracted some 12,000 visitors annually.

After the war, the museum reverted to normal opening hours and resumed its research and collection work. It also participated in shop-window exhibitions in various parts of the country and at regional fairs and cultural events. This had a positive impact on the museum's public awareness and on its visitor numbers.

The idea behind the PTT Museum, which was housed in a new building constructed specifically for the purpose, was to combine the three main exhibition themes and allow visitors to experience them as a whole: postal history, the history of telecommunications and the stamp collection. The aim of the new museum was to "paint an holistic and comprehensive picture of the PTT as a conveyer of communications". The intention was that the exhibition would be informative and easy to understand, even for laypeople. The exhibits were displayed in their relevant social setting and the idea was to "present them in a well-thought-out and educational way, grouped according to a number of well-structured central themes". Moreover, visitors were given the opportunity to take an active part in simulated real-life situations. This included interactive exhibits on letter writing and simulations of senders and recipients.

Museum of Communication as a theme-based museum

In 1997, the museum's legal framework was changed to that of a nonprofit foundation and it was renamed the Museum of Communication. It was now independent and the new name also made it possible to show the exhibits from the historical collection in a wider thematic and chronological context under the overall topic of communication.

A year later, the board signed off on a basic concept for the new exhibition which would involve visitors taking an active part in museum events. The aim was to feature not just rational topics but also emotional experiences and insights. In 1999, the Museum of Communication Bern welcomed 36,297 visitors.

The new concept was put in place from the year 2000 onwards. The museum was extended in several stages to include a room for events, a café and a shop. The first part of the three-part permanent exhibition opened its doors in 2003 under the title "Adventures in Communication", which was later changed to "Near and far: People and their media".

The other two parts of the permanent exhibition opened in 2007 under the titles: "As Time Goes Byte: Computers and digital culture" and "Images that stick: the world of postage stamps". This concluded the overall renewal of the museum and "Adventures in Communication" was made the overall motto of the multipart permanent exhibition. Visitor numbers were now for the first time reaching the 80,000 mark.

The preparatory work for a complete overhaul of the museum concept began in 2012. The aim was to create an interactive, up-to-date Museum of Communication and, after a year-long closure for renovation work, the new core exhibition opened its doors in 2017.

Since that time, visitor numbers have significantly increased. In 2019, the Museum of Communication welcomed a total of 115,664 visitors. Over the space of 20 years, visitor numbers had more than tripled.

In order to live up to the expectations of a society in technological flux, a digital strategy was developed in 2019. With an emphasis on maintaining a digital presence, a culture of participation and a cultural memory, it aims to make the museum and its strengths accessible within the digital space.

Ever since the first museum was established in 1907, it has staged its own permanent exhibitions. After a phase of adding to the collection in the main post office building in Bern and then a period of closure due to the mobilisation during the First World War, the collection of stamps on display were mainly of interest to philatelists.

After moving to the new building of the Swiss Alpine Museum, the management decided to add more "current relevance and practical value to the Post Museum" and to design a more modern exhibition which, until the Second World War broke out, attracted some 12,000 visitors annually.

After the war, the museum reverted to normal opening hours and resumed its research and collection work. It also participated in shop-window exhibitions in various parts of the country and at regional fairs and cultural events. This had a positive impact on the museum's public awareness and on its visitor numbers.

The idea behind the PTT Museum, which was housed in a new building constructed specifically for the purpose, was to combine the three main exhibition themes and allow visitors to experience them as a whole: postal history, the history of telecommunications and the stamp collection. The aim of the new museum was to "paint an holistic and comprehensive picture of the PTT as a conveyer of communications". The intention was that the exhibition would be informative and easy to understand, even for laypeople. The exhibits were displayed in their relevant social setting and the idea was to "present them in a well-thought-out and educational way, grouped according to a number of well-structured central themes". Moreover, visitors were given the opportunity to take an active part in simulated real-life situations. This included interactive exhibits on letter writing and simulations of senders and recipients.